may we stay lost on our way home [closed]

[peacefulexplorer]

For the life (or death) of him, Daniel can't decide what it is he did to deserve a friend like Seth, who has apparently been devoting time to finding Daniel a new place of residence. What's more, unlike Daniel, it seems like he's actually succeeded in locating something feasible. With some of the creative dodging of the building management he's had to do, it's very likely that Lucy's old place won't be tenable for much longer. It'll be frustrating no longer having friends like Bee or Spike or Melanie in easy reach, but the potential consequences of the Rebels forcibly evicting him or, even worse, deciding he could be an asset of some kind, aren't ones he can afford to ignore.

He's putting a lot of faith in someone else's judgment over a potential new living space, but he trusts Seth. He trusts him, and he likes him, and it'd be nice to have a place Seth could visit once in a while instead of Daniel always crashing at his, if only for reciprocation's sake. He already likes the location, far enough removed from the Rebels or ROMAC's respective bases of operations while still within a reasonable radius in relation to the Rift center. The latter wasn't a necessity, but Daniel more or less feels like he needs to have some means for access to it, if only for the sake of any other rifties who might come through. And it's only a few blocks away from the bookstore he may have landed a job at, no less.

Daniel re-checks the address texted to him by Seth, then crams his phone back into his pocket and waits.

Comments

[peacefulexplorer]

Daniel leans back and sips. "It's inarguable," he professes evenly. He considers the next question, dipping his head in acknowledgment that, yeah, he's a little pressed for actual worldly possessions.

"No," he admits. "Uh, some books Lucy left. And - some books Spike has me looking at. Er, not sure if you know him." He chews on the side of his cheek thoughtfully, but can't think of anything else. "Other than stuff like food and clothes, there's really not a whole lot, no. You know, living it large. Moving shouldn't be too difficult."

[powerdealer]

Seth shakes his head a little at the name. He feels like he's heard it before, but he can't quite place it.

"Well, suppose we can find you some furniture on Craigslist or something. Shouldn't be too hard," he answers with a shrug. There's always people looking to get rid of something, the actual challenge is basically just to bring it from one apartment to the other, which is the price you have to pay when getting things free.

"Oh! He punched Johnny!" he exclaims suddenly. That's where he knew the name.

[peacefulexplorer]

"Fair enough." Daniel can be patient when it comes to shifting everything and adjusting and purchasing actual furniture. He's more grateful to be getting out of the Rebel building entirely, which was his first priority.

"Oh. Um." He eyes Seth worriedly, concerned that he may have inadvertently befriended some enemy of Johnny's. "Er. Do I - wanna know why?"

[powerdealer]

"No clue, actually," Seth answers with a frown, taking a sip of his coffee. "Don't think it was a big deal, really. I asked him something about spiking the punch, and he said he'd been punched by Spike." The pun is still awful. "Never got a proper explanation. Bear in mind, Johnny was properly pissed at the time. Drunk." He adds the last bit to make sure Daniel doesn't think he means pissed as in angry.

[peacefulexplorer]

"Really?" The minor swell of anxiety dissolves, and Daniel grins. "I'd like to thank all the circumstances that allowed that little bit of wordplay to be possible. Though if 'spiking' were in full effect, maybe drunk punching should be expected." He pauses, smirk broadening.

"Punch-drunk, you might say." And with a satisfied, unrepentant canting of eyebrows, he finishes off his drink.

[powerdealer]

Seth lets out a groan and gets to his feet. (It's easy enough to hide how his stomach squirms at Daniel's smirk, when he can cover it with disgust for puns.) For a moment it looks like he's simply leaving in protest, but he's really just going to buy Daniel another coffee, and some croissants for them both. He tries to remember if Daniel likes croissants. Yes, they had some - in that dream where Daniel broke him out. For a moment Seth almost changes his order, then decides he's being silly, as usual.

"Don't think this is a reward for that atrocious wordplay or anything like that," he says wryly, setting the plate between them and dropping back into his seat.

[peacefulexplorer]

"Never," Daniel answers, brightly impenitent. But he shoots Seth a grateful look all the same - he's been hungry since this morning, having skipped breakfast to pore over Spike's tomes. "I protest the use of 'atrocious,' however. That one practically called to me, you have to admit. Too much for a linguist to resist."

[powerdealer]

"I stand by my use of the word," he replies stubbornly, picking up a croissant, smelling it for a second, before taking a bite. "Starting to regret my choice of friends, though. You, Gabe, Johnny, you're all terrible with this. I haven't been selective enough in my social circle, and now I'm being punished for it." He doesn't put any particular emphasis on the last word, so one could almost assume the wordplay is unintentional.

[peacefulexplorer]

"Oh, that's very good." Though whether Daniel's commenting on the croissant he's munching at contentedly or Seth's repartee is completely up in the air until he leans forward, holding up a meaningful finger. "And with that, you're officially no longer allowed to pretend you don't enjoy it."

He breaks a tiny piece off the croissant and twirls it between two fingers. "One day Gabe and Johnny and I are gonna surround you. It'll be nothing. But. Puns. A ring of them. A circle of puns. Let it not be said that I'm a one-hit punder."

Okay, he's done.

[powerdealer]

"You're horrible, is what you are," Seth replies, shaking his head. However it's pretty obviously that he's also suppressing a smile and is enjoying it greatly. Or perhaps he's mostly enjoying Daniel's amusement.

"A circle of puns, would that be a... pun pi(e)?" he asks slowly, then shakes his head in defeat. "No, sorry, I got nothing. This is what I get for going up in hand-to-hand punning against a guy who speaks twenty languages."

[peacefulexplorer]

"Mm, see, you're heading into math, and that's really not my area." That one was a bit weak, but Daniel grins regardless. Sam on the other hand, could probably give them both a run for their money or punny.

"In all seriousness - and this was once a serious topic, I promise you," and he flips the lid off his refill, delivering to Seth yet another appreciative glance over the tops of his glasses as he starts on it, "moving shouldn't take long. Just hoping I can hold out before the Rebels start poking around in look for their missing tenant." It's only a couple more weeks. He can manage that, right? He's held out for this long already.

[powerdealer]

Seth doesn't even pick up on the last pun, but whether that's because he's also bad at math or because it was a poor joke is hard to say.

"Well, at least if you've got to suddenly make a run for it, you've only got a suitcase or two of stuff you need to take with you," Seth answers with a shrug. This reminds him of another dream, where he rescued a suitcase stolen from a very bedraggled and wet Daniel, and he almost makes a reference to it before remembering where that dream had led.

"And if that happens before the apartment's ready, you can crash at my place in the meantime," he adds, just wanting to remind that that's there as a backup plan.

[peacefulexplorer]

"Hopefully it won't come to that." That's a very optimistic way to look at it, granted, given that he's been squatting there for just about a month and the repercussions are bound to catch up to him soon, but Daniel's still holding out hope.

"But thank you. I - really can't thank you enough, for everything." How Seth can continuously think so little of himself when he's so obviously generous a person is somewhat beyond him. Still, however often he has to remind Seth of how he is better than he thinks he is - Daniel will keep doing that for as long as he needs to.

[powerdealer]

"You know, I really need to fix my sound system," Seth answers deadpan, his eyebrows drawing together in a frown. "I've been having all this trouble with my record player - Oh no, wait, it's the record that's broken," he finishes, mouth curling into a small smirk as he takes another bite and leans back in his chair. He can't keep dismissing Daniel's thanks forever, so maybe good-naturedly making fun of them will be more effective.

[peacefulexplorer]

Daniel reaches over to swat at his shoulder, a dismissive wave of mock exasperation.

"All right, all right. I get your point. It applies, all right?" He shakes his head, takes another sip. "I'm hoping the transition will go by without a hitch. But, uh, in case it doesn't - I'll keep that in mind."

[powerdealer]

Seth's smirk grows into a full grin at Daniel swatting at his shoulder.

"Well, the rebels can be notoriously bad at keeping track of rifties they can't find a use for. Just stick 'em in an apartment and leave 'em. And as far as I know, they aren't aware of Lucy having one. Plus, she's been around a while, so they probably don't check up on her often," he says, finishing off the croissant and washing it down with another drink. It's mostly just informed guessing, but still.

[peacefulexplorer]

"That's good. That works to my advantage." See? Daniel will allow himself to hope. It makes sense, considering how he's been able to lurk in Lucy's old place for just about a month. But it's not sustainable, and it's a bit of a massive relief to know his illicit stay in the building will soon be coming to an end.

"But it's safest if they don't go poking too close. I really don't want to know what kind of use they could find for me." He's still concerned that some of his more unique experiences might make the Rebels curious as to what he can potentially offer them - with 'offer' being in massive, heavily sarcastic quotations. He's seen their care plan firsthand, and he doesn't care for it. A serious lack of involvement in that group's activities is simply the best way to avoid falling under their radar.

"Still," Daniel says with far more energy, brightly directing the subject away from what Seth might not be so eager to discuss, and for perfectly understandable reasons, "I'll be glad to have my own place, let me tell you. Think I've worn out my welcome in my old building."

[powerdealer]

To be fair, if Daniel manages to keep his mouth shut about the things he knows, it should be fine even if he does bump into the rebels. Even if the ratio of people with superpowers and incredible knowledge and skills and usefulness is incredibly higher in rifties than normal people, doesn't mean they don't deal with a lot of people who are useless to them. They don't have endless resources when it comes to figuring out who's who, and they can't harass everyone too badly, or they would be a lot less popular than they are.

Still, Seth appreciates Daniel veering away from the subject. It's usually easily in danger of becoming very upsetting. Seeing as on a bad day the mere mention of the rebels can be upsetting. This is a good day though, so it's going to take a bit more.

"Not to mention someplace I can actually visit. You can use your own kitchen to make supper for once," he answers.

[peacefulexplorer]

"Exactly." He rolls his shoulders back and straightens, thumb absently digging beneath the stiff paper cupholder.

"Though I think the amount of dinners I owe you must have - skyrocketed by now. Which, uh, just means you'll have to visit as often as possible." What a shame.

[powerdealer]

What a terrible shame.

"Do I get compound interest on the amount of dinners owed?" Seth asks, grin growing again. Once upon a time, this used to be nothing but a joke to get them through a particularly harrowing experience - their second meeting, in fact. And Seth is pretty sure it was actually mutual at that point, that Seth owed some as well. But then it's just stuck around.

Which is probably for the best, actually. For one thing, it gives their social interactions a nice structure and frequency. For another, well, Seth can't cook, and is not always great at making sure he gets enough things like food or sleep, so having Daniel make dinner is just perfect. And Daniel, well, Seth has a feeling he has a tendency to bury himself in his books and work and forget that sort of thing too. So it's beneficial for both of them.

[peacefulexplorer]

In an effort to keep himself from completely shredding his now-empty paper cup out of simple restless habit, Daniel sets it carefully to the side, but his smile persists. "I'll leave that decision to you. You are the one who's owed them." Several times over, and Daniel intends to pay him back in full.

He leans back in his chair in a small stretch.

"On that note, I should probably start taking some kind of inventory of what stuff I should be getting ready to move, huh?" He nibbles on his lip and stares pensively out the window. Getting some sort of emergency duffel together might not be a bad idea either, à la what Seth did during his unfortunate case of withdrawal, in case Daniel gets unexpectedly uprooted from his not-entirely-legitimate living space before he can make the move proper.